Elastic webbing.



i A. TURNER.

ELASTIC WEBBING. APPLICATION man MAR. 14. 191s.

l ,QQASM Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

ARCHIBALD TURNER, 0F LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

ELASTIC WEBBING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed March 14, 1913. Serial No. 754,261.

To aZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ARCHIBALD TURNER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Leicester, in the county of Leicester, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Elastic Webbing, of which the following is a specification,

This invention relates to elastic webbing of the type which is particularly, though not exclusively, applicable for use with hose supporters or stocking Suspenders.

The web used for this purpose is known in the trade as narrow ware or narrow web and when employed as hose supporters, one end of the said web is attached by sewing to the lower end of the front of a ladys corset, and the opposite'free end is furnished with a clasp or grip of any of the well known constructions to detachably engage the upper part of the stocking or hose.

It is a common practice in the trade to weave this narrow elastic web in a continuous flat strip comprising alternate elastic and non-elastic sections, requiring a special construction of loom to alternately vary the stretch or tension of the rubber threads as they are being let-off into the loom so as to produce the elastic and non-elastic sections respectively.-

The present invention relates to a new or improved elastic web having these characteristics of elastic and non-elastic sections, which are used in a different manner, the said characteristics being obtained not during the weaving of the web, but by subsequent treatment after it has left the loom.

The elastic webs used for hose supporters are of two kinds, either frilled web or plain web and the present invention is applicable to either.

The essential feature of this invention consists in taking a web, which has been woven with uniform tension or elasticity throughout its length, after it has left the loom, and

sewing through it, one, two, three or morerows of stitches, preferably parallel and in the direction of the length of the -web so as to produce sections therein of elastic and non-elastic nature.

. This sewing may be effected in a sewing machine of any well known make either of a single needle pattern, or, where more than one row of stitches is inserted, these may be simultaneously effected in a multiple needle sewing machine. y

The stitches inserted by the sewing inacliine, being formed of a non-elastic thread act as a counter-action or lock to the elastic thread in the web, and restrains and preyents the latter stretching in the direction of its length at the part where the stitches are inserted, it is obvious that by stitching portions of the web as described and leaving other portions without sewing, a web is produced having sections elastic and non-elastic respectively, hence, avoiding the necessity of installing a special loom for producing these elastic and noli-elastic sections, as above mentioned.

Many of the fiat narrow strips or webs used in the manufacture of hose supporters are what are termed frilled webs provided with a backing and facing of a different character or quality of thread or material. A web of this character' having elastic and non-elastic sections may be produced by taking a flat web or strip woven with elastic threads at a uniform tension throughout and placing it against and in juxtaposition with a facing fabric, non-'elastic in character, or sandwiching it between two non-elastic fabrics-a facing and a backing strip respectively.

The operator then feeds these two or three superposed fabrics together into a sewing lmachine at a uniform tension and sews one,

two, three or more longitudinal and parallel rows of stitches therethrough to produce a non-elastic section, but to produce the recurring and alternating elastic sections the operator while feeding the said fabrics `to the machine, stretches the elastic web to the limit of its stretch (or less) and then sews the fabrics together as hereinbefore described.

When the said compound fabric or web is removed from the sewing machine, the nonelastic sections have their component fabrics lying flat and in close juxtaposition, while the elastic sections have a gathered, puckered or frilled effect, due to the elastic-web Yrecovering its normal or unstretched condi- Ation after bemg released from tension by the operator, thus drawing up the fabric on one or each of its faces into gathers or rucks, as

f Figures 1 and 2 show different ways of sewing an Yelastic webbing according to this invention to produce webbing consisting of alternate elastic and non-elastic sections.

Fig. 3 shows a frilled web'having elastic and non-elastic sections according to this invention. Y v

Fig. l is an edge view of the kind of web shown in Fig. 8. Y

According to this invention an elastic web a of uniform elasticity at all points throughout its length, after it has left the loom, has sewn through it one or more rows of'stitches b such as shown in Fig. 1. The rows of stitches b are located at intervals in the length of the webbing the sewing being ef- V fected either by a single or multiple needle sewing machine and while the webbing is in a normal z'. e. unstretched condition so as to provide intervening elastic and non-elastic portions throughout the length of said before mentioned uniformly elastic web.

The stitches b may be inserted in parallel rows as in Fig. 1 or the sewing may take place in first one and then another direction, for instance,.longitudinally and transversely as shown in Fig. 2. v

The stitches b render those sections where they are located in the webbing of a nonelastic character as hereinbefore stated, thus Ymaking theV webbing to comprise elastic sectionsc alternating with non-elastic sections cZ. p

Institching the web a after it comes from the loom, the sewing threads may be cut or severed after stitching of each section al, vor to expedite the operation, the operator may feed the webthrough the machine from one sewn section d to the point where another sewn or non-elastic section is to begin, without cuttingv the threads, the Heating threads between each non-elastic section d being removed by cutting when the nished web is taken out'of the sewing machine.

To produce a frilled web having alternate elastic and non-elastic sections accordsay, the one or'more coverings f are at-V ing to this invention, an elastic web e (Figs. 3 and 4:) is combined with one or more coverings f (two being shown by way of example) as. previously described, that is to tachedtothe elastic web e by one or more rows of stitches b. Certain'lengths of the web c and covering or Coverings are fed through the sewing machine at normal ten` sion z'. c..in an unstretched condition; this produces the non-elastic sections d. Other lengths are sewn while the elastic web c is in a stretched condition, this produces the elastic sections c in which sections the covering or coverings f are gathered, puckered or frilled when the attached web e is allowed to assume its normal condition as represented in the drawing.

In the case of these composite elastic fabrics, the sewing b is continuous throughout the web, it being essential that the operator shall stretch the elastic web while the sewing is being performed in those sections which are to be'elastic.

What I claim then is 1. A. new article of manufacture consisting of an elastic web reduced in elasticity at intervals or sections in the direction of its length by rows of stitches of non-elastic thread extending longitudinally of the web and applied only to those sections which are to be inelastic, said rows of stitches being inserted in the unstretched web.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a woven elastic web, series of stitches of nonelastic thread inserted in the unstretched web at intervals throughout its length thereby dividing it into alternating stitched and unstitched sections which are respectively inelastic and elastic, each ot said series comprising a plurality of rows of stitches extending longitudinally of the web and being equal in length to the inelastic section, for the purpose described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a narrow woven elastic web, stitches of nonelastic thread disposed in transversely spaced rows extending longitudinally of the web between the elastic portions of the latter, said rows of stitching being applied to the elastic web with spaced longitudinal portions thereof as applied, equal in length to the length of the corresponding elastic web portions normally unstretched whereby the non-elastic thread forming the rows of stitching will prevent stretching of the web at said portions to produce alternate inelastic and elastic sections.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a narrow woven elastic web, stitches of non-elastic thread disposed in transversely spaced rows extending longitudinally of the web between the elastic portions of the latter, said rows of stitching being applied to the elastic web with spaced longitudinal portions thereof as applied, equal in length to the length of the corresponding elastic web portions normally unstretched whereby the nonelastic ythread forming the rows of stitching will prevent stretching of the web at said portions to produce alternate inelastic and elastic sections, said rows of In testimony whereof I" have signed my stitching being applied at substantially uninaine to this specification in the presence of forlnly spaced distances to the unstretched two subscribing Witnesses.

elastic web portions to produce substantially ARCHIBALD TURNER. uniformly corresponding alternate lengths Witnesses:

of elastic and inelastic web sections, respec- E. N. LEWIS,

tively. WALTER W. BALL.`

Copies of this patent may be obtained for flve cents each, by addressing the Commissiener of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

